Called by Dish? You may receive $1,200 in a legal award

dennispap

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May 9, 2007
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"A federal judge in North Carolina has tripled the award for more than 50,000 people on the Do Not Call Registry who were contacted by Dish Network (DISH), setting up a potential $60 million payout. Under her ruling, people on the registry who were called by Dish could receive $1,200 each, up from the $400 per-person award set by a jury in January."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/called-by-dish-you-may-receive-1200-in-a-legal-award/
 
By the time all the appeals play out, it'll end up whittled down to a couple free PPV coupons.

I know this is something of a joke, but it is interesting. They would have to be Dish customers to be able to use the PPV coupons, but I would expect that they would have to be non-Dish customers for the calls to be considered a violation. My understanding is that companies that you do business with are allowed to call you even if you are on the do not call list.
 
Looks frivolous to me as well. The company that actually made the calls is Satellite Systems Network a retailer for Dish. Now I understand that Dish is responsible to a certain degree for their retailers but there have to be some limits. I'm sure that Dish has rules in place regarding telemarketing and how it can be conducted and what happens if you're found to be breaking those rules. But just how is Dish supposed to avoid issues like this entirely? Fire their entire retail workforce thus not allowing any retail representatives to contact customers? It's not like they can monitor all the phone calls their retailers make. I think this is the classic where the lawsuit went after the company with the bigger pockets regardless of how involved they were with the matter. I'm willing to wager that this retailer will not be working for Dish much longer if they are still a retailer.
 
I wonder this has anything to do with the email I just received from Dish?
Email from Dish said:
We appreciate your business. No action is required at this time, but periodically we like to remind our customers of some simple tips to keep your personal information safe:
  • A DISH representative will never call you to ask for your account number, credit/debit card number, or social security number. In fact, you should be suspicious of anyone that calls you and asks for this information.
  • Be wary of scams in which callers pretend to be an authorized representative of DISH. Scammers will sometimes change their caller ID to disguise their real identity to trick you into giving away valuable information.
  • If at any time you are suspicious of a caller claiming to be from DISH, hang up and contact DISH directly using one of the methods below:
 
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